Posted on 03/07/2003 10:14:33 PM PST by Commie Basher
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NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org
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For release: March 6, 2003
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For additional information:
George Getz, Communications Director
Phone 202) 333-0008
E-Mail: pressreleases@hq.LP.org
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Sequel to USA Patriot Act is every tyrant's dream, Libertarians say.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Here's great news for everyone who supported the USA Patriot Act, Libertarians say: The Justice Department has secretly drafted follow-up legislation that would allow the government to make secret arrests, create a vast new DNA database of "suspected terrorists" and even strip Americans of their citizenship and deport them.
"If you liked the Patriot Act, you're going to love the sequel," said George Getz, Libertarian Party communications director. "Patriot II offers awesome government power, rapidly disappearing freedom, and an action-packed war on the Constitution. You'll be sitting on the edge of your seat as your liberties are stripped away."
The Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 (DSEA) – dubbed "Patriot II" because of its similarities to the USA Patriot Act – was secretly written by the Justice Department in January and has not yet been introduced in Congress. A draft of the legislation was leaked recently to the Center for Public Integrity and posted on its website.
"The original Patriot Act got rave reviews from authoritarians everywhere," Getz noted. "Rogue FBI agents conducting 'sneak-and-peak searches,' an e-mail spy scheme named Carnivore, secret deportations – this legislation was every petty tyrant's dream.
"It opened to a packed House – and Senate – in October 2001 and got a nearly unanimous 'thumbs up.' Clearly there's a market out there for less freedom, and Washington is rushing to cash in with a sequel."
The plot for Patriot II: A group of unscrupulous politicians in a large, Western democracy capitalize on a terrorist attack in order to vastly expand their powers. They embark on an effort to convince their subjects that by surrendering their freedom they will be protected from terrorists and other criminals.
Working along with a "Department of Justice," they subvert the Constitution by secretly crafting legislation that allows the government to:
* Make secret arrests, overturning a federal court decision requiring the government to identify persons detained in the 9/11 investigation.
* Issue secret subpoenas, and jail people who reveal to anyone except their attorney that they are the subject of a secret investigation.
* Strip citizens of their citizenship for associating with a group designated by the attorney general as a "terrorist organization," even if the individual's conduct is legal.
* Allow the attorney general to deport any foreigner, even a permanent legal resident, whose presence he deems "inconsistent with national security."
* Create a database of DNA collected from "suspected terrorists" and from non-citizens suspected of ordinary crimes.
* Conduct a wiretap for 15 days without a judge's approval, and monitor an individual's Internet and chat room visits for 48 hours without a court order.
* Overturn local court decrees that restrict police from illegal spying.
* Weaken the Freedom of Information Act to prevent journalists from learning who is being held in police custody.
Though Patriot II is expected to be a hit with politicians and much of the public, not everyone will be buying a ticket, Getz predicted.
"Libertarians and other freedom-loving Americans have panned Patriot II for obvious reasons," he said. "It's burdened by the same clichéd cast of characters as the original – a devious attorney general, an opportunistic president, and pandering politicians who hoodwink people into surrendering their freedom.
"Will anyone fall for this story line a second time?"
It's that, or you'll get more homicide bombers blowing your neighborhood schools up.
How about repealing all the guncontrol laws on the books. I can protect myself and increase liberty at the same time. Just do as the Israelis do. We don't need another Patriot Act, let alone the first one.
Stop throwing 3 dollar words around for which you don't understand the definition.
(You should be certified in that department by now... )
You should be certified ...
By replying to my post, you are apparently admitting that you are a political bottom feeder and seeking to make cheap political points. I'm impressed - the first step in correcting a problem is acknowledging that the problem exists.
The terrorists could have used any number of methods to overcome an armed pilot; rushing the cockpit en masse, laying down smoke, a stun grenade, or CS and obscuring the pilot's view, or simply blowing up the plane from where they sat or threatening to do so unless the pilot came out of the cockpit unarmed.
Either one of those would've brought down the plane and saved many more lives overall than were taken on 9/11.
What's cheap about it? I said fedgov dropped the ball, not the American citizen.
I said the INS had become the welcome wagon, there were pilots who only wanted to learn to fly straight and level, there were "students" who were supposed to be attending college who weren't.. they even issued visa's for the hijackers post 9/11 for crying out loud. Those aren't "cheap political points" my dear. And further, I had touched on them in #24. So if you would have only bothered to read the thread Strela, then you would know this and you wouldn't be bothering me with questions about things I already typed in black and white.
Now, go and sleep it off. You're beginning to sound like a looney.
That makes no sense at all..
(not unlike the rest of your postings.. )
Either you didn't read the thread or you're being obtuse.
Please tell me that's a joke.
Then explain the joke to me...
And don't forget, after Oklahoma City, Clinton/Reno called for Constitutional restructions to fight "terrorism." The Injustice Dept even put out a list on how police might spot a terrorist. Such as having an NRA sticker on your car.
The next administration will say, you might be a terrorist if you (1) listen to hate radio, (2) subscribe to libertarian or conservative publications, (3) register for a third party, (4) join an anti-abortion lobbying group, (5) support a "hate group" (i.e., a church that condemns homosexuality).
Of course, as a libertarian, I have no problem with abortion or people's sex lives. But Bushie "conservatives" don't seem to realize that they're digging their own graves -- and that of libertarians too!
It's good you weren't around during the American Revolution. "Give me liberty, or give me death," wouldn't have gone over too well with you.
Ironic, that Bushies call libertarians cowards simply because we care more about American freedoms than protecting so-called "allies" throughout the world.
We interfer overseas, pick sides in foreign disputes that create unnecessary enemies, and thus bring hatred on us that leads to less freedom here. And that's fine with the Bushies.
Then you should support Stalin and Hitler. Their measures certainly rounded up 1000s of actual criminals -- along with millions of innocents.
But hey, if even one bad guy is caught, then the gulag is worth it, right?
Thanks for the best laugh I've had all week.
IOW, we are all the eye and ears of Big Brother.
And what is "strange"? Long hair? An NRA sticker? An eastern religion? Listening to "hate radio", or to Rush, or to NPR?
What is "anti-American" verbiage? Saying you hate the President? Or saying you hate a US Senator (such as Hilary Clinton)?
If this is "Republican," than one may as well vote Democrat, because there really ain't a dime's worth of difference.
Yes, and the Communists burning of the Reichstag "forced" Hitler to open Dachau.
And the kullaks and counter-revolutionaries "forced" Stalin open the gulag.
And Snowball's terrorism "forced" Napoleon to restrict freedoms on Animal Farm.
It's always terrorists who "force" the state to restrict freedoms, please don't blame the state.
Even Franklin was careful enough to qualify "Liberty" with "Essential". Now we may disagree with those liberties we view as essential, and such a discussion would take more time than I have now, but a single example may suffice.
We would agree that Americans are free to light their homes with Christmas lights during "The Holidays". But during WWII residents of coastal cities, especially in California, could not light up their homes, and for good reason. There were many sacrifices of what were previously viewed as essential liberties, that were suffered to reach a greater end. Those sacrifices, along with those of our soldiers, helped us restore the freedom that tyrants had tried to permanently remove.
That having been said, the Patriot Act should be watched closely to assure it does not become the tyrant we are trying to destroy.
Ture, but what's wrong with that? With libertarians, the US would never have entered World War One, which would then have ended in a stalemate, and Naziism and World War Two would have been avoided.
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